I. Related Technical Fields
Related technical fields include ornamental jewelry, including ornamental jewelry for pierced body parts. Related technical fields also include methods of making ornamental jewelry for pierced body parts. More specifically, related technical fields may include ornamental jewelry for pierced ears, such as earrings.
II. Related Art
Commonly, ornamental jewelry is fastened to the ear by inserting posts or wires through a hole in a portion of the ear resulting from a piercing. Once inserted, the post or wire needs to be secured in order to prevent the jewelry from sliding out of the hole. In the past, a few known securing mechanisms have been employed to ensure that the post or wire is secured.
Early on, artisans employed two separate pieces to craft an earring: (1) a post containing the ornamental portion of the earring, and (2) a locking mount or a holding nut that slidably engages to the post to prevent the post from sliding out of the hole. The holding nut usually has an opening for the shaft of the earring post to allow the holding nut to slide onto the shaft. The holding nut then advances along the shaft until securely engaging the shaft near the rear of the user's ear lobe, maintaining the earring in its locked position.
Earrings have also been developed so that each earring is a single piece or contains pieces that are not detachable by the user, to avoid the problem of losing earrings. For example, the shaft of the earring post may contain a loop, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,456, and shown in FIG. 1. A straight ear contact portion 24 of the earring post is inserted through the hole in the portion of the ear resulting from the piercing. The emerging distal portion is grasped by one hand and the ornament 12 with the other hand and the distal portion is pulled in the direction that is bent. The ornament 12 is moved to the front side of the ear lobe.
As another example, earrings have been developed in which the earring post is split at the distal end of the shaft, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,338 or the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 396,661 and shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively. Payne describes an earring post that has a shaft 12 with a distal end 24 and a proximal end 28, and is split along the longitudinal axis in order to provide prongs. The prongs are biased outwards and require a sliding sleeve 63 to be slid over the prongs to bring them together. The distal end 24 of the shaft 12 is inserted into the hole in the ear lobe when each prong 66 is straightened by sliding the sleeve 63 over the prongs 66. After the shaft is inserted through the hole, the prongs are released by sliding the sleeve away from the prongs. After being released, the prongs return to their flexed and biased shape and secure the earring to the ear lobe.